STRESS - IT Sources and Solutions

Stress is a psychological reaction to events in one's environment that cause tension and anxiety, often because the individual feels that they cannot cope or manage the situation. It is estimated that, on average, IS employees work 50 hours per week; almost half work an average of six hours on Saturdays and Sundays; and about 70% have worked while sick. It has also been recently proposed that high stress levels affect the productivity of IS employees.

Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training.
" Why don't you put her in charge?"

In a recent survey of 16,000 international technology professionals in 28 nations, the productivity of U.S. programmers was shown to be on average 7,700 lines of code, compared to 16,700 lines for non-U.S. programmers .  One reason cited for this difference is job stress from “putting in 70-hour work weeks to meet business pressures and deliver IT projects faster.” Some employees are opting to switch careers as a result of job stress. It is estimated the average replacement cost for an IS employee runs between $32,000 and $34,000.

Everyone experiences stress sometimes, and not all stress is intrinsically bad. However, stress is related to several potentially serious physical effects such as: 

• Cardiovascular disease.
• Heightened cholesterol.
• Compromised immune system.
• High blood pressure.

Stress has even been linked to reduced brain function through the deterioration of brain cells. Stress also reduces employees' ability to be innovative by causing people to revert to old habits instead of thinking outside of the box.

In the end, chronic stress can eventually lead to employee burnout, which involves emotional exhaustion (feeling tired, overwhelmed), depersonalization (feeling indifferent to others and disengaged), and reduced personal accomplishment (feeling inadequate and cynical). Stress also has monetary consequences that come in the form of reduced productivity and increased sick days.

In a series of studies to understand primary stressors for IS employees. They conducted in-depth interviews and collected data using an open-ended questionnaire.a list of 33 stressors cited as most common. In addition, all 33 items were combined into a single scale, referred to as the Stress measurement and determination inventory (SMDI).They categorized the stressors based on their association with one of seven factors, described as follows:

• Training. Two stressors were associated with this factor, involving the need for appropriate training and skills development to complete tasks.
• Deadlines. Five stressors were associated with the pressures of meeting time deadlines and the need to complete projects within schedule.  
• Coworkers. Five stressors were associated with this factor, involving the pressures of working with coworkers and elements of power struggles and conflicts that may result from working with others.  
• Performance evaluations. Three stressors were associated with performance evaluations. 
• Job security. Six stressors were associated with this factor, which involves concerns about job loss due to downsizing, mergers, or other factors.  
• Career development. Four stressors were associated with the needs of IS employees to keep up with developments in the field and pressures that result from continuing skill development.  
• User demands. Eight stressors were associated with pressures put on IS staff by users, such as dealing with the IS user interface.

They investigated whether the stressors identified in this study were related to negative organizational consequences such as burnout, job satisfaction, and intention-to-quit. We measured burnout by using the emotional exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).  We also collected data to measure job satisfaction and an individual’s intention to quit his or her job.  The correlation coefficients for these variables are shown in the table here. We had expected a high negative correlation between the SMDI (and its components) and burnout, job satisfaction, and intention-to-quit. All of the coefficients were as expected with the exception of those between satisfaction and user demands and between deadlines and intention to-quit.   

So what does one do?  Here are some educated remedies that have proven to be effective to fight off what seems to be a ground swell of life sucking, debilitating, and performance limiting stress.  Share and enjoy…

1. Change perspective. Catastrophizing and perfectionism are common causes of stress.   Guys, it aint that bad, and you’re not that perfect, so Just because something doesn't go well one moment, doesn't mean that the whole day is shot. Rephrase your thoughts "That didn't go so well, but before I did quite well at X and this experience does teach me something." A popular form of psychological treatment, called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), has shown that shifting your perspective by making your thoughts more realistic has a lasting effect on reducing stress.

2. Breathe.  This was the recommendation that Yoko Ono wrote on a piece of paper and handed to John Lennon, “Breathe”.  Breathing more slowly and deeply from one's belly is physiologically calming and can help to lower stress. The next time you feel stressed, take a moment to slow your breathing down by making your exhalation one or two seconds longer than your inhalation.

3. Meditate.  No don’t go join a monastery. Just sitting in silence for even five minutes per day while focusing your attention on your breathing can help to reduce stress. Hey even if you don’t reduce your stress, it will help everyone else’s by enjoying your silence- haha.  Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of Tibetan monks have shown increased activity in the areas of the brain responsible for focus, memory, learning, happiness, and positive thoughts while they meditate.

4. Get a life. Nuff sed

5. Manage your time. Solid time management skills can go a long way towards reducing stress. Ruthlessly prioritize tasks according to which activities are most important to complete, and break large projects into smaller chunks to make them more manageable. Learn to say, “NO”.  If you really don't think that you have the time to complete a new task, admit it before agreeing to take the task on. The book "First Things First" by Steven Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca Merrill offers great time management suggestions to help reduce stress and still be effective at work.

6. Talk it out. Social support not only reduces current stress, but helps to buffer the effects of future stress down the road. Talking about your problems with others can be highly beneficial, particularly if these individuals are coworkers who share your concerns. Studies have shown that employees with a higher sense of shared identity (e.g. feeling they are members of a team with common characteristics and challenges) offer each other more social support and experience less stress. Reach out to fellow coworkers and connect with peers by discussing common concerns as well as how concerns and problems were (or can be) solved.

7. Reduce uncertainty. A common cause of workplace stress is feeling uncertain about one's roles and responsibilities. Communicate openly with your manager and your staff so that everyone has a clear idea of what is expected of them. When there are a lot of unknowns, such as during times of organizational change, ask for a timeline of when various factors will be known.

8. Take control. Studies reliably show that employees who feel that they have at least some control over their work feel less stressed. While it might not seem like you have a lot of control over a particular situation at work, you might be surprised by how much control you can gain after talking with your manager about the situation. In the end, there is no simple remedy that will help reduce your stress. You are ultimately responsible for initiating the (sometimes difficult) conversations, decisions, and changes that are necessary to reduce your stress level.

Bottom Line

Stress is an unpleasant experience that can lead to relatively serious emotional and physical consequences. With their long hours and task overload, IT professionals need to watch that they don't let stress rule their lives. Take control of stress and avoid burnout by following the simple techniques above. The alternative is to keep going as you are and die, well, maybe not die, but "pushing the doorbar" and quitting.

Source(s):

http://www.ciozone.com/index.php/Career/Stress-Management-Tips-for-IT-Professionals.html

http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~xswang/Research/Papers/SERelated/business/p99-sethi.pdf

So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”

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About Rick Ricker

An IT professional with over 20 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.

For more information, contact Rick at (800) 333-8394 x 689